since I have found this website, I take a look in this forum everyday. The WIP section is one of my favourite, many intersting works from a lot of talented artists.
I am also like it to draw and paint, to creat illustrations and concept art, so I thought maybe I can share my works with you too.

Thats the reason why I have opened my own WIP thread. I hope to learn more about drawing, painting, composition and everything what a good illustrator needs to.

So lets start with my first WIP project.

I want to illustrate a strong and big dragon.

I took my pencil and have started to sketch a lot of dragons until I got to this piece (see file "dragon_a").

I was not really statisfied with him. His neck is too long and looks more like a snake instead of a dragon. His head is also a bit small and the tail too long. When I looked more and more on his... expression, I had the feeling that he seems to be confused of that what is happening around him (in this case nothing).

Ok, the next step was to put on his body a new head/neck and a shorter tail on his back in a other direction. After this step I got this sketch (see file "dragon_b").

Thats the progress so far. The next step that I want to do is to paint the latest sketch of my dragon. I am going to use Painter Essentials 3, using the airbrushtool.
I hope to start with this work soon.

Comments, questions and critics are welcome.

Thank you.

RhettAllen

01-09-2008, 03:20 AM

The perspective is a little odd. Certain parts of the body don't seem to match up or go in the same direction; like the wings look like they are twisted off the center of the back and I believe it looks as though the front legs don't line up.

I don't really understand the muscle structure. And what are the things hanging from the tips of the wings?

It looks like you have a chance to give the dragon some character and turn out something cool; but you've got alot of competition as dragons are a very commonly done piece of art.

Good luck. Just keep developing it and keep it unique.

VISEone

01-09-2008, 11:47 AM

I think the wings wouldn't hold such a dragon in the air. So you need more muscles and a more solid structure for the wings. If it would be a kind of caricature you can draw the wings very small but I don't think that was your goal.
I like the first dragon most, he looks nice - you should work on this one.

CybrGfx

01-09-2008, 02:11 PM

Also, the new neck is now too short.

Dragons (or the idea) originated in China, thousands of years ago. They were considered flying serpents (snakes), hence, they have very long necks, unless you go for the more cartoonish effect, as ViseOne has so successfully done with his dragons. But your is not a caricature dragon, you are trying for a more "real" look, so you should consider a bit longer (but not excessively so) neck.

You also do not have the legs connected to the spine. They attach in the middle of the body. Just as a skeletal frame is important to character rendering, so is proper musculature. Look at some animal images and get some idea of how leg muscles work, and how legs attach to bodies.

I like the style of your wings, but agree that they would not be at all capable of flight.

THOUGHT is one of the most important parts of any artwork, and distinguishes it from sketches and doodles. You have a decent foundation to this dragon, now, THINK a bit more about how he would function with the appendages you give him.

Keep refining this, it will be quite nice, once completed!

Chriz5

01-09-2008, 10:34 PM

Hello again,

thank you all for your comments, I appreciate it.

@GravidEngine

I did the sketch without any references, tried only to draw out of my imaginations. I have not really an idea how the muscle of a dragon works. I think thats the reason why the parts of his body do not match up with each other.

The things on the top of the wings are some decoration, it has not really a special sense.

@VISEone

No, it is not my goal to make a caricature of it, thats true.
I agree also with you, the wings are too small to keep him up into the air.

I´m not going to work on the first one, because it is not exactly that what I wanted to draw.

@CyberGfx

Thats one of my goals, to make him look more real.
Like I already said, I tried more to copy the image out of my imaginations and did not spend any time to think about the functions of my dragon.

I´m going to follow your advices and try to work it out. I do not want to start with the next step until the dragon is free of any mistakes.
When I have worked it out, I am going to load it up here again.

Thank you all.

Chriz5

01-14-2008, 03:26 PM

Hello again,

during the weekend I tried to work on my sketches again. I have done a lot of big changes to it. Most of the time I drew doodles to get this creature more looking like a dragon and prevent me to do the same mistakes like in the last sketch before.
I have decided to make this dragon to a non-flying-dragon, so this is a... I do not know the expression for that... a walk-animal? (see file dragon_c).
There are more background informations which I have for my works, but I do not want to boring you if this is not being of interest.
In this way I hope for your reply again and for your honest opinion.

I have done also a second sketch from a dragon... lets say as an experimental work (see file dragon_d).

Had to copy both from DIN A3 size down on a DIN A4 size to get this sketches scanned.
Sorry for the low quality of these images.

It looks a bit undetermined, as to how "humanized" you are trying to make this creature. The shoulders are a bit too narrow, and the head angle a bit too pronounced. This creates a bit of confusion. If you want it more humanized, widen the shoulders a bit. If you want it more creature, adjust the head where it joins the neck.

The legs and feet seem a bit underdeveloped. Think about whether it spends the majority of time standing on 2 legs, or 4. The more weight distribution among more legs, the less bulky the tops of the legs will be, but they still need to have enough mass for the muscles needed to support and move a large creature. You might check some lizard pictures, such as monitor lizards, and Iguanas, for muscular legs, or the Frilled Lizard, for a more slender creature.

This shows definite improvement. Keep refining it, based upon your thoughts of what it is supposed to be able to do.

~Cyber

Chriz5

01-14-2008, 07:58 PM

Thank you for your help CyberGfx,

but to avoid any misunderstandings, your advices refer now to the file "Dragon_d", this experimental work, right?
Sorry I´m a bit confused now.

I do not want to work on two different sketches at the same time, so I compared both works and prefer more to continue with "..._c".
I like this heavy and sluggish look, but it should not also look like a torment for him.
It´s not easy for me to describe it... I´m going to work on it and do some few changes again.

Maybe I can upload tomorrow the new version, but this gonna be close. We will see.

Christoph

Chriz5

01-17-2008, 10:51 PM

Hello again,

I have done a small update to my sketch, some little changes and improving the quality of this image. Had to copy it down to a smaller size with a stronger contrast to be able to scan it.

I would like to transfer this sketch into Painter 3 for corrections if it is required too. On this way I am going to save more time.

Christoph

Chriz5

01-29-2008, 10:35 PM

Hello,

I have started to paint my sketch in Painter 3 by using the digital airbrush tool.
This is the current version of my work.
I hope to continue with the wings and the tail soon.

Christoph

Chriz5

02-02-2008, 11:05 PM

Hello there,

this is my latest version (see attachment), I have done the wings and the tail so far.
I also tried to give him a structure to his skin, in my view it was to smooth before.
There some small things I am going to change again.
A background was not planned for it, but should I do one?

Criticism and Comments are welcome.

Thank you.

Christoph

Chriz5

02-04-2008, 10:29 PM

Hello again,

this is my last update of my work with which I want to end this wip. I changed the background from white to a warmer color and also adjust the colors of the dragon to a warmer one.
I do not know what you are think about it, but I am satisfied with it.

I am going to start here in my thread a new wip soon, not sure what will be the next work going about, we will see.

Thank you to everyone.

Christoph

Advarsky

02-05-2008, 07:47 PM

Nice dragon. I like his skin and pose, but the wings are looking bad - try to find some reference on them..
Keep it going.. :rolleyes:

VISEone

02-05-2008, 10:28 PM

You did a good improvement on this! But you could work on the wings indeed...
Nice job so keep it going...

Chriz5

02-06-2008, 09:23 PM

Hello there,

thank you for your replies, but could you describe with more details what you dislike about the wings? Is it the skin? The shape? Or both?

I would try to do some corretions as soon as possible.

Christoph

DArcy1

02-07-2008, 02:51 AM

Hi Chris

I think the main crit with respect to the wings is their underlying structure (or rather, lack thereof). Dragon wings are generally conceived as variants of bat wings. And bat wings have a very specific anatomy. All of the struts of a bat wing are in fact extended finger bones.

See here:
http://z.about.com/d/animals/1/0/I/6/bat_wing.jpg

The arc at the edge of the wing is because the membrane is under tension when extended. When collapsed, it folds up - if you want to see it in action, open your umbrella then close it and you will see how the "membrane" behaves.

I certainly don't suggest you copy it, because someone went through a *lot* of effort to create the following images, but these are great dragon "reference photos".

comparing with the dragon in my first post, there is huge difference between them now. When I look at the dragon which I presented you at the beginning of my WIP, it is embarrasing me a bit.

Maybe you want to see a work about dragons which I have did few years ago, it is really terrible. :)

Well, the current one is not perfect at all of course, but improvement seems to comes up step by step. I think you all know what I try to say.

At this point I would like to finish this work when nobody has any "objections" (not sure if this is the right word in english) or ideas what could improve the image a bit.
I have already ideas for some new works, but I am not this kind of person who works at many pictures at the same time. Sometimes I do, but in the most time it is ending up in a chaos.

Christoph

Chriz5

03-08-2008, 10:57 PM

Edit:

Have to cancel my WIP because I am too busy at the moment and have not the time to keep it up, sorry.

I will come back soon.

Christoph

Chriz5

03-29-2008, 10:05 PM

Hello everybody, :)

I have got something new which I want to show you here. There was no special idea behind this picture, it has started with some simple shapes and strokes and that is the result.
A creature which is looking for me like an Octopus-Elephant.

Christoph

Chriz5

04-22-2008, 06:17 PM

Hello, :)

I have started about two weeks ago with the picture below.
I am at the moment too busy to put much time into this work.
So it will take some time to finish this piece.

What is the work going about?
We got the task to create a King, a Queen and a "Bube?" for our own cardgame.
I took the sketch of my Pic Queen and transfered it on my computer. How you can see, I have already started to overpaint it.

Critiques or ideas for improvement are welcome. Thank you.

EDIT: I re-overpainted this piece and cut off some parts of this picture until I got only the face.

Christoph

Chriz5

05-21-2008, 02:43 PM

Hello again, :)

got here some sketches which I want to color it with painter.
I prefer to paint the second one.
Going to start with it as soon as possible.

Christoph

Chriz5

07-04-2008, 10:18 PM

Hello,

I just want to present you my current W.I.P.
I decided to paint this eye-creature and at the moment I try to add some details to his skin.
The next time when the details are done, I will show you the work again.

Bye.

Chriz5

07-11-2008, 09:14 PM

Hello everyone,

here is a little update of my current W.I.P.
At the moment there is no enviroment around him, but this is the next thing what I want to do.
I think there is also a need for some color adjustments.

Bye.

Chriz5

07-12-2008, 09:38 PM

Hello everyone,

here is the final version of my "Eye-Creature". Maybe this picture is too overhighlighted, but I do like it.
Tell me what you think.

Bye

Chriz5

08-01-2008, 02:33 PM

Hi there,

may some of you know the game "World of Warcraft" and this work is going about a Warlock Gnome called Sefardim, also called Sefa.

In the attachment below you can see a copy of the current version.
In the picture Sefa is discovering a secret dungeon. Walking through with a wand in her hand trying to bring some light into the darkness. A the moment there is no dark dungeon around her, but it will be added while I color this piece. The lightsource on the wand will be also changed, it looks a bit like a burned branch or something and perhaps the expression on her face too.

I think this won´t be easy (for me).

If you have any suggestions or critiques which could help me to improve this work, please let it me know.

Thank you.

VISEone

08-01-2008, 03:02 PM

This is a god start - but I think the shape of the head seems not in right proportions - especially the eyes are off a symetrical position. Also the right hand - looks like a claw for me - but anyway this looks a little wrong i dunno why...

I think you can improve this image before you color it by working on the anatomical points. Maybe some other members here will give you a better explanaition since I'm not a pro yet ;O)

Good luck and keep working - this looks promising!

Chriz5

08-01-2008, 07:27 PM

First of all thank you for your reply VISEone. :)

I am not really sure which right hand you mean. Do you mean the right hand from her view or from our view?

The head was one of my biggest problems. I used as a reference for the gnome anatomy a screenshot out of this game, which you can see in the attachments below.
The head ingame looks a bit strange this is why I also used as a reference for the gnome anatomy a artwork from Raneman of the "Sons Of The Storm". I do not show you the artwork because I have no idea if it is allowed to post artworks of other artists here.

You have right with her eyes, that is not normal. There is definitely a need for some corrections. But perhaps I will hide her complete face in the shadow and let her eyes glow like an evil monster, this would be great... we will see.

I add to the attachment the outline sketch too, maybe we can find there a answer for the head shape.

Thank you.

Chriz5

08-05-2008, 06:42 PM

Hi there,

I have started to overpaint this sketch and tried to find the right colors for this outfit.
The problem with the hand and the face will be changed anyway during the coloring process. The background will be added soon.

Thats all at the moment.

Thank you.

Chriz5

08-08-2008, 05:54 PM

Hi everybody,

there is the wish to place Sefa instead into a dark dungeon into the Molten Core.

The Molten Core is a very "hot" place, may a place like the hell.
In this case I have painted a sketchy background to find the right colors for a place like this. I also tried to adjust Sefa to a warmer palette, but I am not really statisfied with the result. (see "sefa_kolo2/3" below)

I still prefer the color palatte of the attachment in the upper post. (see "sefa_kolo.jpg")

At the moment the work is splitted up in two different groups and I change between them.

Comments are welcome, thank you.

Chriz5

08-09-2008, 05:01 PM

Hello again,

and here it is.

I have decided to let the MC away, because it does not make any sense to place it as a background. It would only disturb and steal the attention. In the current version the background is more simple, but I think it interacts better with the character.
Well... this is my opinion.

C&C are welcome, thank you.

Chriz5

08-13-2008, 09:05 PM

Hello everybody,

so here is something new again. I had no great idea for a interesting picture which I could paint, so I started again to do sketches about some creatures. (yeah, to draw monsters makes a lot of fun)
In this case I will return to the Painter again, want to deal with it and learn more about this software.

Well, what is the work now going about.
At the moment I call this work "Duel". Two monsters are sitting and roar each other in a location deep under the ground.
When you watch the file which I have added to this post, you will notice that both monsters look equal. Thats true, because one of them is only a copy of the other one. :p

But I am not interested to invest all the time to work at the whole picture. I will choose only a part of this picture, which seems to me more interesting as the whole work itself.
There are also two examples added to the attachments to show you what I mean.

If you find a better and more interesting part out of it, please show me. :)

Thank you.

VISEone

08-14-2008, 08:07 AM

well, you could focus one creatures head and just show a little part of the other ones mouth.
I don't know how it will look like but it could be interesting to see one creature defending and not exactly knowing about the enemy creature...just an idea ;O)

You can copy your main head and mirror it, then change color and details - nothing wrong with this technique.

Chriz5

08-14-2008, 12:10 PM

@VISEone

I will keep that idea in mind. ;)

At first I will work on a bigger part, when it is done there will be many options for a nice cut. :)

Chriz5

08-15-2008, 11:38 AM

Hello,

here is a update of my work.
I show you both heads again. On the left the head before and on the right the new one.

Chriz5

08-17-2008, 09:05 PM

Hello,

it is time to show you a update of my wip.
I am already tired of working on the details and the background needs also a lot of work, but I am looking forward to finish it as good as possible.

See you for the next update again.

VISEone

08-18-2008, 10:32 AM

now that you got rid of the background it looks much better now - also the "too bright teeth" are gone - good improvement!

Chriz5

08-18-2008, 12:20 PM

Thank you for you comment VISEone. :)

I will upload next time a bigger version of this picture, so that it will be possible to see the details better.

Chriz5

08-25-2008, 10:43 PM

Hello, I am back again. ;)

Thats it! And I think it has become a nice piece.
At least I used Photoshop to do some highlight and contrast corretions because the picture was to dark before.

Comments and critiques are welcome. :thumbsup:

For the next W.I.P I try to do something different, since I have only painted creatures or a small gnome.

Thank you.

VISEone

08-26-2008, 06:48 AM

Good Job - it looks very nice! Congrats to your finished piece!

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